Under the building was a large banquet hall, lit by magical chandeliers and lamps, with long tables full of expensive treats. Walking to and fro were scantily dressed and healthy servants wearing silver masks, serving alcohol to over a hundred well-dressed guests with unique and fancy masks.

Every person at this banquet was influential, wealthy, strong, or powerful. It was as much a social gathering as a feast serving a darker purpose...

Andrew Spencer, wearing a mask, was chatting with a pudgy middle-aged man, Bruno Jones. Unlike Andrew, who had an honest look, Bruno had a shrewd look, yet both men were equally blackhearted.

"Bruno, your little hirelings failed me last time. I want as few obstacles as possible before the old man finally leaves his seat..." Andrew said, narrowing his eyes at Bruno.

"Young Master, rest assured. I have already arranged the best of the best to eliminate your... obstacles. Wait for the good news tomorrow." Bruno shrewdly smiled, rubbing his hands.

"Hmph. You'd better. I paid top coin for this." Andrew huffed and then changed the subject. "By the way, when will today's feast begin?"

"I believe it should be soon, Young Master." Bruno smiled with anticipation, checking his gold-framed pocket watch.

Andrew's eyes lit up.

"Good. I prepared a special offering this time..." Andrew muttered, salivating.

These influential men and women didn't casually join to eat fancy food. Instead, it was to raise their Levels and Skill Levels! As for how? It was through The Banquet, of course! Through consuming special tonics, they could effortlessly raise their levels and skills. After all, if something could be solved with money... Then why not?

As for what these tonics were... it was Special Meat. It was very Special, after all.

Ding* Ding*

"May I have your attention, please?"

Suddenly, everyone stopped talking and looked at a stage at the end of the hall. On top of the stage was a well-dressed man, wearing a gold mask, the organizer of today's banquet.

The organiser looked left and right while maintaining a smile and speaking.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all again for coming to this humble feast and contributing so much to this sacred, continued tradition of ours. As you already know, for people in our position, raising our levels and skills is such a tedium. So let us all pray and give thanks to our Great God of Feast, Lord Gabbah, for bestowing us one of his wonderful, delicious gifts."

Everyone in the hall lowered their heads and quietly whispered prayers.

"Thank you, our great god Gabbah, for the coming feast..."

Once they were done, the organiser smiled and spoke.

"Now that we have prayed, let us commence the feast! Please form a line, and bring your offerings to Lord Gabbah's holy child!"

After he finished speaking, several servants dragged over a bloated, worm-like thing, lying on a wheeled platform. It didn't have eyes or ears, or even limbs. All it had was a meaty, strange nose, a round, alien-like mouth, and two antennae on top of its head. And at its back was a puffy, mucus-filled opening. Two more servants also brought over a large metal dinner plate, right before the creature.

Instead of being disgusted by the cow-sized abomination, the attendees were delighted as they formed a line, pulling out their offerings from spatial storage.

The first among them was The Harvester, holding his trophies, wanting to feed them to the Holy Child.

"Put your offering on the plate! And remember, the higher-quality the offering, the better the results..." The host reminded.

Going up first, The Harvester presented the organs of his latest victim to the servants, who then carefully poured the contents on the dinner plate. Sniffing the food, the worm opened its salivating mouth and consumed everything in a single, large bite, without even chewing.

Just as it swallowed everything, a visible bulge undulated within its body before reaching its rear, where it ejected a ball of pulsating white meat. The moment it was out, a delicious fragrance wafted through the room, as everyone began to salivate. Although it looked grotesque and was essentially recycled human parts, it smelled and tasted like the best food they could imagine.

After it was ejected, the Harvester didn't waste time, picking it up and clearing the way for others to feed the Holy Child. Everyone then kept feeding the creature with human meat and organs, with the color and size of the meatball differing, depending on the offering.

The lowest-quality offerings formed white meatballs, like cooked pork balls, while better-quality offerings gave pink, red, and even purple meat. And the deeper the color, the more fragrant and tastier the meat.

Bruno, for example, offered the meat of a lvl 100 man in Normal Mode, which made it red.

As for Andrew, he fed the creature an actual lvl 110 strongman on Hard Mode! The worm especially liked it, producing a dark blue ball of pulsating meat!

Once they got their balls of flesh, the noblemen and women found a corner and ravenously ate them raw. While the scene was grotesque, the servants gave them envious looks, having also tasted the occasional meatball as a reward.

Andrew, who had his prize, went off the stage and ate the meatball. After every bite, chew, and swallow, he felt his body becoming stronger, giving him a sense of euphoria that was better than sex!

As he was halfway through, mouth covered in blue juice, he received messages that his level and skills increased by a few levels, making him smile, his eyes narrowing in delight. This meat was doubly sweet, for it wasn't only delicious, but the offering was even more so.

"Thank you, brother, for contributing to increasing my power..." Andrew muttered, smacking his lips.

That's right, what he offered was his flesh-and-blood brother, a fellow competitor, whom he assassinated and kidnapped. After kidnapping his corpse, he first harvested the corpse, revived him, and then imprisoned him. Now, he is nothing more than a meat-producing animal. This was already the second harvest. Although those on Hard Mode lose 20 levels instead of 5 upon death, including some skill levels, he reckoned that he could still milk his brother a few more times before he reached lvl 1 and became a useless cripple weaker than a child!

Cannibalism? Eating your own half-brother? Nonsense! What he ate was Special Meat after all. How could that be cannibalism? He was merely recycling meat! If his half-sister, Kate, weren't a weakling Hell Challenger, he would have put more effort into killing her before feeding her to the Holy Child!

Without any moral guilt, Andrew was about to continue his meal when suddenly, he noticed something... off.

He saw three individuals, one man and two women, standing beside the snack table, eating and drinking while watching from the side. Anywhere else, such behavior was normal, but when everyone else was lining up, ready for the main dish, these three were still eating hors d'oeuvres and drinking champagne! This was an insult to the event!

And he wasn't the only one who noticed this affront. More and more people noticed them, and even the gold-mask-wearing organiser frowned, turning to look at one of the servants, signaling to the trio with his chin. The servant understood what he meant and approached them.

"Excuse me, Sir and Madams, are you not making an offering to the Holy Child?" The servant politely, but coldly, asked.

Hearing his words, the gentleman didn't speak, but one of the shorter ladies, who had a large rack, spoke.

"Oh, we will. We are just waiting for the others to finish since our offering is rather big this time."

The other lady, who had a slightly tall and curvaceous build, also added.

"That's right. We don't want to prevent the others from enjoying their meals, that's all. Besides, we are very hungry since we had a lot of work today."

Hearing this, the servant visibly relaxed and smiled, bowing slightly.

"Apologies for my discourtesy. Please, enjoy yourselves."

After saying that, the servant retreated and told it to the organiser. After hearing it, he nodded.

"Alright, I want to see what they have to offer to the Holy Child..."

Minutes flew by, and soon, the last in line made his offering. Only then did the trio move to the stage. The host, who kept his eye on them, finally relaxed.

"I thought they were infiltrators, but it seems like I overthought it..."

However, when they got on stage, the trio turned around and looked at the crowd, having weird smiles. The man took a step forward and spoke.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, are you still hungry for more? Today is our first day here, so we made sure to bring a commemorative gift to all of you! A feast that would surely give you your fill..."

All the guests' eyes lit up, thinking they were about to be given another meal. After all, this type of meal was very expensive, requiring the killing of an individual and extracting their flesh and organs. Some resorted to murder, while others bought slaves to butcher them like cattle. And the higher-level they were, the more expensive it was! How could they not be happy?

However, the organizer frowned.

"Wait... I didn't invite anyone new... Who are they, even? Now that I think about it, I don't recognize them?!"

While the organizer was stunned, processing what was happening, he suddenly saw the hall door, which was closed, open. And from it, dozens of men and women, holding pickaxes, shovels, hammers, and sticks, emerge, grinning like bloodthirsty maniacs under their masks.

"Wha-What is going on?! What is the meaning of this?!" The organizer exclaimed.

Everyone else looked over, stunned at this turn of events, and some of the sharper ones, like Andrew, became alert, their expressions turning ugly.

"The exit is blocked, and we are surrounded... Not good..."

As he thought of this, he rubbed his expensive spatial ring, ready to take out his magic revolver. Not only him, but other like-minded individuals with strong survival instincts reacted the same, some even already pulling out weapons or activating protective equipment and spells.

However, these invaders didn't care, just eyed them coldly, eyes flashing with bloodlust.

The gentleman on stage then spoke.

"Now, everyone, the main course is here... and you're it! Hahahahaha!"

"Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" 

"Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!"

"Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!" "Hahahaha!"

Asher, Sonia, and Nidawei laughed together with all their clones, shaking everyone's eardrums with the synchronous, powerful laughter of dozens. After laughing for a few seconds, all the clones stopped in tandem, creating a creepy vibe. Some of the more weak-hearted guests even pissed themselves.

Finally, the organizer snapped out of it and called out, pointing at the trio on stage.

"Guards! Guards! Where the hell are you?! Arrest these heathens!"

Some of the guards present in the hall went to stop them, but the two women merely gestured with their hands, shooting low-level icicles and wind blades. Such spells normally wouldn't hold much power, but in the two women's hands, these were extremely lethal, mowing them down like weeds, creating a bloody mess, spraying blood over the walls and some unlucky guests. Within moments, a dozen guards fell, all of whom were at least lvl 100 on Normal Mode, if not stronger.

One woman in the crowd blankly looked at her dress, which was stained with blood, and shook before screaming.

"AHHH!!! MURDER!!!"

As if a powder keg were lit, everyone started panicking and screaming as Asher spoke with a warm smile.

"Let the feast begin... hehehe..."

Right after he said that, the armed clones charged forward with reckless abandon, swinging their lvl 30 Hell Mode equipment, which was comparable to lvl 300 Hard Mode equipment, at the various guests.

Some got their heads smashed in by a hammer. Others got impaled by a pickaxe. And some were dismembered by a shovel.

Some put up a bit of a fight, like Andrew.

He drew a gun and fired at them, even scoring a headshot on one of Nidawei's clones. But to his shock and horror, the bullet, which managed to pierce her skull, was extracted using her bare finger, even drawing out a bit of brain matter as the wound closed. As if to taunt him, she even put the bloody, magically enchanted lead bullet on the tip of her tongue, teasingly rolled it in her mouth, before spitting it out like a cannon!

BANG* SPLAT*

The bullet shot back, piercing Andrew's eye and brain. The last thoughts he had were-

"How did we offend these monsters?"

It was a swift, merciless massacre- A bloody feast to bloodthirsty Murder Hobos.

"P-Please... I-I'm pregnant..." A woman begged, heavy with child, about 8 months pregnant.

However, Asher looked at her coldly.

"Was this what the pregnant women you killed said to you before extracting their fetuses?" He asked, eyes emotionless as he raised his shovel.

"N-No, No no, wait SPLAT*-"

Her head was split in half, spurting out blood and brain matter, as Asher extracted the shovel.

"Don't worry... Since you like eating fetuses so much, you will get to eat one soon..." Asher cryptically muttered.

Just then, Sonia and Nidawei walked to him.

"Boss, we rounded up everyone," Sonia said.

"That worm thing is also secured," Nidawei said, looking at the giant worm-thing.

"Good..." Asher narrowed his eyes. "They wanted a feast, right? Then let's give them one..."